Locking device.



L. M. WIDTH.

LOCKING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 191;.

1,102,838, Patented July 7, 1914.

5 k /6 3mm Lil/1.140 w h UNITED STATES.

LABS M. WIDTH, 0F DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July '7, 1914.

Application filed- September 12, 1912'. Serial No. 720,080.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LARs M. WIDTH, a citizen or subject of Norway, residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locking 'Devices and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention is a lock; andthe object of the same is to produce an improved lock capable of preventing the rocking of a movable body such as a tub while yet permitting it to be lifted off its supports. This object is accomplished by constructing the lock in the manner hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 an end elevation of a washing machine with my improvement attached; Fig. 3 is a perspective detail of the twin bolts and the bar connecting them. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings I have conventionally illustrated one form of washing machine having a rocking body, but I claim no novelty in the machine itself and do not wish to be limited to its details of construction. Briefly described, it comprises a base B, uprights U rising therefrom and each carrying a support S herein shown as curved and provided with projections P along its curved upper edge although these are not absolutely necessary; and a body or tub T having on each side a curved rocker R resting on the support S and herein shown as provided with notches N adapted to receive the projections P if the latter are employed although otherwise these notches are not necessary. The tub may be rocked on its support by means of a handle H or otherwise, and if the handle be employed it rises from one side of the tub while the other side thereof carries an upright board W forming a wringer support.

The gist of the present invention lies in the use with a rocking body machine of substantially although not necessarily exactly the construction above described, of a lock which may be thrown into action to prevent the rocking of the body on its supports or on its bearings, while still permitting said body to be lifted off its supports as when it is to be carried to a distant point. The lock in the present case consists of twin bolts 1 and 2 moving longitudinally through tubular keeper's 3, each formed by making a tubular bend across an upright plate 4 which is secured as by screws 5 to one of the uprights U of the Washing machine. The bolts are by preference made in two members, the innermost of which have pointed inner extremities and the outermost of which are integrally connected at their outer ends by a cross bar 6 so that the locking member is in efi'ect an elongated U-shaped staple whose body 6 forms a handle and extends across the uprights U and whose legs 1 and 2 are slidably mounted in the tubular keepers 3. One of said members of each bolt is bifurcated or forked as at 7, and the other is reduced into a tongue 8 which enters the space between the fork-arms and is connected therewith by a transverse pivotal pin 9, all as best seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings; and the disposition of this pivot is such that when the look as a whole is drawn out-ward until the extremities of the inner members of its legs clear the machine body T, the pivots or knuckles have passed beyond the tubular keepers 3 so that the outer portion of the lock consisting of the outer members of its legs and the cross bar 6 can hang pendant as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. I consider this a valuable detail of my invention, because when the lock is retracted and the washing machine is working it is not possible for any one by accidentally hitting the cross bar 6 to push the lock inward so that its bolts suddenly engage the tub T. This might be fraught with danger, or might possibly produce the accidental upsetting of the tub. Attention is directed to the fact that the plates 4 are secured to the uprights U at such points that the keepers 3 stand just below the bottom of the tub body- T when the latter stands horizontal. The result is that when the lock is thrown into action as by pushing it inward so that its twin bolts slide through the keepers 3 and under the tub as seen in Fig. 2, said tub is prevented from rocking in either direction and is held absolutely horizontal between its supports. This is a condition which is extremely desirable when the wringer (not shown) is applied to the wringer board W, and at other times as well.

My invention is susceptible of application to churns and to many kinds of machines other than those intended for washing clothes, but I prefer to use it in conjunction with a machine having a rocking body because, after the lock has been thrown into action, if it be desired to remove the body the same can be lifted ofi' its supports.

From this description it will be obvious that I need not be confined to the specific details of construction herein described, and

obviously the sizes, shapes, proportions and inner members being of less length than the keepers and retractable into the same and out of the path of said rocking body, and a cross bar disposed horizontally at one side of the support and having its ends integrally united with the outer ends of said outer members, the latter being of greater length than the keepers, whereby when said outer members are in the keepers and said cross bar engages the side o-fthe support, the inner ends of the outer members will project under the body to hold it stationary.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LARS M. WIDTH.

Witnesses F. Geo. HANSON, FREDEBIC C. HANSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

